Volume One, Chapter 14: Father Has Realized His Mistake!
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Though Shen Xingdu knew he was talking about Fox Fufu, she still couldn’t help but feel her heart tighten slightly.
“Why don’t you just stop for a moment and listen to what she wants to say to you?”
Yan Nanfei didn’t slow down a step; instead, he quickened his pace and confidently retorted, “You want to listen? If you want to listen, I’ll stop.”
Shen Xingdu pouted in frustration, raising her fox head high, her ears flattened against the back of her skull.
Stubbornly, she said, “I don’t want to listen. Whoever wants to listen can listen.”
Yan Nanfei strode quickly into the courtyard and pushed open the door, instructing the servant to prepare hot water.
Once the servants had all left, he solemnly whispered to Shen Xingdu, “You need to take a bath! Fufu spends half her time licking her fur. Since you swapped into Fufu’s body, you haven’t licked yourself even once, have you?”
Lick her fur?
Shen Xingdu stared blankly at Yan Nanfei.
She recalled having once seen a stray cat on the wall licking its fur: one leg raised high into the air, then…
Her face flushed all the way to her ears, and she stammered, “I… of course, I wouldn’t lick my fur. I’m human, not a fox!”
“But now you’re a fox. If you don’t bathe soon, you’ll start to smell!” Yan Nanfei said, truly irritating her.
How dare he say a young lady stinks!
Didn’t he care about her dignity?
She didn’t want to smell bad either!
Who asked her to be cursed and turned into a fox?
Hearing Yan Nanfei’s words, Shen Xingdu faintly caught the scent of fox musk on herself and finally relented.
“Then… then find a maid to wash me!”
“There have never been any maids in this courtyard. Do you want to ruin my reputation?” Yan Nanfei’s shameless response left Shen Xingdu speechless.
Could she ruin his reputation? Who knew if he had any left?
Yan Nanfei continued, “You choose: do you want a servant boy to wash you, or me?”
In truth, there was no choice given.
Yan Nanfei would never let a servant boy bathe Shen Xingdu.
When the hot water arrived, he grabbed her by the ribs and forced her into the basin.
No matter how much Shen Xingdu had become a male fox, inside she was still a sixteen-year-old girl.
She had never been forced by a man to bathe like this before.
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Shen Xingdu felt a wave of heat surge from the tip of her tail all the way to the fine hairs on her ear tips, almost burning her alive.
Her little heart thumped wildly, her breathing erratic.
She exclaimed, “General Yan, I can wash myself! I can wash myself!”
Yan Nanfei released her, eyes twinkling with amusement as he crossed his arms and looked at the muddled mess in the basin.
“Wash yourself then. I’ve never seen a fox bathe herself.”
Shen Xingdu extended her two fox paws, feeling on the verge of tears.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
With her keen fox senses, Shen Xingdu’s nose twitched; she recognized the persistent scent of Du Ruolan outside.
Surprisingly, she felt somewhat grateful for Du Ruolan’s tenacity.
She looked at Yan Nanfei pitifully and said plaintively, “General Yan, it’s Du Ruolan at the door. You should go listen to what she wants to say. I think she’s got something to tell you tonight and won’t leave without saying it.”
“Nanfei, who are you talking to?” Du Ruolan outside kept knocking, as if wanting to wake everyone.
Shen Xingdu helplessly urged, “Go quickly, General Yan. For your own reputation’s sake, you should let her in to see there’s no one else in your room. Otherwise, tomorrow the whole city will be gossiping about General Yan hiding a beauty in a golden chamber.”
Yan Nanfei’s eyes darkened but he still grabbed a cloth and covered Shen Xingdu to keep her from catching a chill.
Shen Xingdu thought to herself that he was probably worried about Fufu catching cold; she refused to read too much into it.
Yan Nanfei truly cared about his pet.
Behind the screen, Shen Xingdu saw Yan Nanfei open the door.
A delicate figure suddenly rushed inside.
Along with her came Du Ruolan’s strange, intoxicating fragrance that muddled the senses.
Through the screen, Shen Xingdu could only faintly make out two overlapping shadows.
Then she heard a woman’s voice, the sweetest and most coquettish tone imaginable, filled with utmost flattery.
“Nanfei, I miss you so much… I don’t believe you never had feelings for me. I was wrong. Please don’t punish yourself anymore, punish me instead, okay? Miss Shen is innocent… I’ve met Miss Shen; she only looks somewhat like me. Why do you torment yourself like this?”
So it really was because she resembled Miss Du somewhat?
Shen Xingdu thought, I am innocent!
First it was Lu Shao, now Yan Nanfei.
Why do they treat her like this?
Her body grew hotter, her heart beating wildly, breath growing short.
She no longer heard what Yan Nanfei said.
All she could hear was a buzzing, like spring thunder rolling over the distant mountains.
She had only known Yan Nanfei for two days; she shouldn’t feel this heartbroken.
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Shen Xingdu felt herself growing weaker; her vision blurred.
Her body grew heavier, sinking toward the water’s bottom.
Could it be that this time she was going to drown?
“Save me! Save me! Yan Nanfei! Save me!”
Shen Xingdu kicked her legs and sat up on the bed.
Soft brocade blankets covered her body; before her lay a bedroom even more luxurious than the Yan residence.
Even the bed she lay on was carefully carved from fine redwood.
Beside the bed stood an intricately carved clothes rack, from which hung several sheer silk robes that fluttered gently in the breeze, reflecting prismatic sunlight — the finest flowing silk.
Delicate palace lanterns hung inside, their thin silk shades exuding charm even unlit during the day.
In the corner, several pots of lush bonsai stood, their pines sturdy and their orchids elegant, adding a touch of rustic natural beauty.
On the wall hung a meticulous ink wash landscape painting, with refined brushwork and profound meaning.
Shen Xingdu recognized it as a masterpiece from a renowned artist, priceless.
At the foot of the bed was an ornate dressing table, adorned with exquisite grooming tools; the bronze mirror gleamed, reflecting a graceful silhouette.
Most startling of all, sitting opposite her on the bed was the emperor she had only met earlier that day.
Shen Xingdu lowered her head in shock, reaching out to examine her soft, delicate hands, like freshly blossomed magnolias.
She then touched her face — smooth as silk, without a single hair!
She was no longer a fox!
She had returned to her own body!
What was going on?!
She cried out in her heart, but her eyes only flickered as she met the emperor’s gaze.
Then the emperor’s face, once handsome but weathered, suddenly contorted into an expression of strange emotion.
His mouth opened wide, wrinkles deepened, and tears glistened in his eyes.
He pulled Shen Xingdu into his arms, patting her back fervently, tears streaming down, pouring out his feelings:
“Xingdu, you’ve finally awakened! It’s all my fault! I’ve let you suffer! Father knows he was wrong! Father was wrong! Father shouldn’t have entrusted you to that shortsighted villain Shen Xingzhang to raise!”
Shen Xingdu, held tightly by the emperor, almost couldn’t breathe.
She raised her head and looked into the bronze mirror at the foot of the bed.
The reflection was hers — no doubt about it!